Giant Crab Extermination Rush
Mu-hyuk dropped his sister off at their parents' house.
"Come by the house sometime."
"Yes, Father."
"Alright, drive safe."
"Son, be careful with the car."
"Don't worry."
Mother and Father.
"Bye."
"Yeah."
And finally, his sister.
After the goodbyes, he floored the accelerator a bit aggressively.
Time was tight.
He'd planned for two days of rest, but it had already overrun by one. It was 2 p.m. now, so if he logged in right away and hunted, he could probably squeeze in one request.
Four days left.
Four requests remaining.
He had to clear at least one, no matter what.
It'd be even tighter without Sung Min-woo.
Screech.
He parked in front of his place, got out, headed upstairs, changed into something comfortable, and lay down in the capsule to log into Illusion.
Welcome to Illusion.
He hurried to the Weibra Empire's Mercenary Guild.
"Welcome."
"Request complete."
"Please hand over your mercenary badge."
He gave the badge to the clerk.
You have completed a Mercenary Guild request.
You have acquired Mercenary Points (50 points).
You have acquired a small amount of experience.
You have acquired Weibra Empire Contribution (10 points).
He immediately picked up three new requests and left the guild.
"Skeleton Warhorse Summon."
He reverse-summoned one and mounted another.
"Whoa, a horse?"
"A skeleton? Awesome!"
Regular users marveled.
Fellow necromancers reacted with disbelief and shock.
"What the hell is that?!"
"What level is he?!"
"Holy shit..."
He ignored their stares completely. He had no time for petty chatter or glances right now.
"Welcome."
He reverse-summoned the warhorse in front of the warp gate.
"Where to...?"
"Siam Kingdom."
"2 gold."
He paid and stepped onto the warp gate.
He closed his eyes.
Dizziness surged with the light.
"Welcome."
When he opened his eyes again, he was at the Siam Kingdom warp gate. He dismounted, summoned the warhorse again, and raced off, crossing paths with users.
He passed through the plaza and burst out the south gate.
The hunting ground arrived in five minutes.
"Skeleton Warrior Summon."
"Skeleton Archer Summon."
"Skeleton Mage Summon."
He ordered them to attack the Giant Crab monsters scuttling along the beach.
Armor Archers and Bone Archers unleashed volleys.
The bone arrows struck true.
Clang, clang.
Most bounced off.
Still, it took damage—the Giant Crab turned sideways and charged fast.
The distance closed in an instant. At that moment, a powerful blast from the Skeleton Mage halted its advance.
Boom!
Armor Knights and Bone Swords charged in amid the explosion.
The real battle began.
First, the Armor Knights and Bone Swords surrounded the Giant Crab, preventing escape.
They swung swords in gaps, but one Bone Sword staggered back instead.
Its shell was too hard—the blade bounced off without real damage.
Bone Sword 5's damage is reflected.
And its HP dropped from the reflected damage.
Bone Swords won't cut it, huh?
Armor Knights 1 and 2 fared no better. Still, they dealt the strongest hits and leveraged their high defense and HP, so it was manageable.
Attacks from Armor Knights only. Bone Swords stopped attacking and focused on blocking paths.
The problem was the claws.
One of the Giant Crab's two weaknesses: its only attack method was those claws.
But they packed insane power and were faster than expected.
A weakness that doubled as a strength.
"Damn."
Bone Sword 7 just got crushed pointlessly.
Armor Archers, Bone Archers—full volley!
Storm Barrage.
Powerful Arrow Shot.
They poured on the attacks, but the Giant Crab wouldn't release Bone Sword 7.
Kiririk!
It got reverse-summoned while clamped.
Clang!
Most incoming bone arrows bounced too. Minimal damage, but nothing substantial.
At least arrows didn't reflect damage—that was a plus.
Not all missed, though. Armor Archers 1 and 2's arrows embedded slightly, and Mu-hyuk's one shot pierced the shell properly.
-510 Damage
-918 Additional Damage
That was the second weakness.
The Giant Crab, with 150 defense, had an incredibly tough shell plus reflection—tricky bastard.
But pierce that shell for internal damage, and you'd get 100% criticals like this.
Good.
Only Mu-hyuk's attacks could penetrate.
Mage spells had power but scattered, failing to breach.
Didn't matter. Knowing his attacks worked was enough.
Why?
Storm Barrage just needed MP, and Powerful Arrow Shot had a mere 10-second cooldown.
Storm Barrage. Powerful Arrow Shot.
Over 1,400 damage every 10 seconds.
Armor Archers' volleys added up too.
Kiririk.
Armor Knights 1 and 2 pulled their weight.
The battered crab soon fell to a final mage blast.
Your experience has increased.
Giant Crab defeated (1/320)
One down.
"Whew."
He quickly lured another Giant Crab and clashed with it.
*
As time passed, more users flooded in.
They'd all probably taken the holiday off and logged in right after getting home.
That was holding Mu-hyuk back. Sung Min-woo's absence hit hard now. With him, they'd be clearing Giant Crabs way faster.
Should I find a party?
Can I even?
Every visible user was in a full party—eight-man groups dominating everywhere.
"Hey, pull that one too!"
"Got it!"
Mu-hyuk struggled alone amid them.
Funny part: his solo speed nearly matched those eight-man parties.
Your experience has increased.
Giant Crab defeated (78/320)
No gloating, though.
Comparisons were meaningless.
What mattered: could he solo-clear it?
Non-stop, about three minutes per crab.
20 per hour.
10 more hours for 200.
It was 5:30 p.m. now.
With breaks... 8 a.m.?
Repeat for four days?
Exhausting just thinking about it. But he pondered because of one thing.
Subjugation unit rank depended on party size for completions.
Higher ranks gave extra contributions—he remembered that, so quitting wasn't an option.
Damn, if only that guy were here.
Then—
Ding-
Capsule call rang.
Huh? What's up?
Sister?
Mu-hyuk logged out, puzzled.
Hiss.
His eyes widened upon exiting the capsule.
"You...!"
"Didn't pick up, so I came over."
Sung Min-woo.
"How'd you get in?"
"You gave me the password before."
"I did?"
"Yeah, when we were drunk."
"Oh... anyway, what about that thing?"
He grinned.
Mu-hyuk got it.
"You got permission?"
"Yeah, begged like hell for two days."
"Ha, you bastard."
Mu-hyuk punched his gut.
"Guh!"
"Get home and log in already! Wait, no—let's go together. Pull an all-nighter at the capsule cafe down the street."
He grabbed a jacket and headed out with Sung Min-woo.
"Heh."
"What's so funny."
"I got permission."
Mu-hyuk smiled too.
Damn.
Those few hours of struggle flashed back.
But he was here now—relief.
No more party worries. With Sung Min-woo, completion was certain.
They rushed to the capsule cafe, logged in, partied up, and shared the mercenary request.
"Alright, let's go!"
"Earth, Wind—smash 'em!"
Giant Crab massacre began.
Finally, at 3 a.m., Mu-hyuk completed his request.
"Ah, crap."
Problem: Sung Min-woo.
Giant Crab defeated (242/320)
Requests could be shared, but not the progress.
Mu-hyuk cleared his solo before Sung Min-woo joined, but he hadn't.
Mu-hyuk hunted till 7 a.m. to finish Sung Min-woo's.
"Logout."
He exited the capsule.
"F-feel like I'm dying."
Mu-hyuk shrugged at Sung Min-woo's words.
"I held back sleep so long, I'm oddly fine now."
"You're insane."
"Kidding. I'm about to drop too."
They paid and headed home.
"Crashing at your place tonight."
"Fine."
Mu-hyuk hit the bed immediately; Sung Min-woo grabbed blankets from the closet, spread them on the floor, and collapsed.
"......"
Both out cold in seconds.
*
Mu-hyuk and Sung Min-woo.
Urgency etched their faces.
"How many minutes left?"
"10."
"Ah, man."
Skeleton Warhorse at full gallop.
Warp gate to Weibra Empire, straight to Mercenary Guild.
Kairon Baekjak's special requests had multiple completion spots—no long lines.
Few arrived as last-second as them.
With one minute left, it was their turn—they completed it.
"Hoo, th-that was close."
"Seriously..."
No need to finish—the curses were implied.
"Rest today."
"Good call. We finished the request. Gonna say something now?"
"Yeah, probably."
"Then hear it and log out."
"Sure."
As expected, someone appeared.
Mercenary Guild Captain Kraksu.
Ah...!
The quest popped at the sight.
Hidden Request from Mercenary Guild Captain 'Kraksu'
📍 Reach Level 70 and find Kraksu.
🎁 Reward: Experience, Fame, Linked Quest
He scanned the crowd and spoke.
"I'm Kraksu, captain of the Mercenary Guild. Good work, everyone. Those who cleared 40 or more of Kairon Baekjak's special requests by two days from now, 6 p.m., will receive Subjugation Unit Confirmation Certificates.
Certificates will be issued outside—head to the left placard."
As everyone moved left.
"Where you going?"
"Ah, to see the captain. Quest. Wait in line."
"Got it. I'll hold our spot."
Mu-hyuk approached Kraksu again.
He was looking right at him.